Darkside, and S&R performance,
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Lol thats like saying no one wants a 6 bolt 4g63 anymore, or AWD, or tubo systems. Some things are just retarded.
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Joined: Dec 2006
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I have been hearing alot lately not only on forums but on the street about S&R performance, I have been hearing about some mistakes that they have made. I also have heard people as about Darkside performance.
First off ask any of Darkside's customers and they will tell you they not only are satisfied but when they have an issue Drew will go ABOVE and Beyond the call of duty as a builder or a tuner to make your car RIGHT!,
As for S&R
Just read this post from just one forum. There are So many others that im not going to make a list. But With everthing I have been hearing I do not want to see another person go there and over pay for sub quality work and not get what they where expecting. Then when they ask for support be told they are not important. This is what S&R does. They only care about you up till the moment you pay them. Then they say FUCK YOU
Here is a clip from the My.is forum post. my.IS - Lexus IS Forum
BTW Darkside is fixing one of the IS300's listed in this thread near the end. The guy had a fully built 2jz done there with the custom 2600$ intake for the IS300. Drew has to rebuild the motor now because it doesnt even have the correct compression. Beware people you have been warned..
First off ask any of Darkside's customers and they will tell you they not only are satisfied but when they have an issue Drew will go ABOVE and Beyond the call of duty as a builder or a tuner to make your car RIGHT!,
As for S&R
Just read this post from just one forum. There are So many others that im not going to make a list. But With everthing I have been hearing I do not want to see another person go there and over pay for sub quality work and not get what they where expecting. Then when they ask for support be told they are not important. This is what S&R does. They only care about you up till the moment you pay them. Then they say FUCK YOU
Here is a clip from the My.is forum post. my.IS - Lexus IS Forum
BTW Darkside is fixing one of the IS300's listed in this thread near the end. The guy had a fully built 2jz done there with the custom 2600$ intake for the IS300. Drew has to rebuild the motor now because it doesnt even have the correct compression. Beware people you have been warned..
I am very familiar with this customer and this car with a million problems. I remember tuning this car the first time (10/01/09) and fixing an load of problems for free because this persons was out of an job. In fact I wrote off part of his bill.
The customer came back on 01/04/10 with boost leaks from everywhere and an trans service. At this time we advised the customer Valve covers and set an appointment up for 01/12/10
On 01/12/10 the customer wanted a street tune from Brian at EFI unlimited. Brian worked on this car for many hours only to find even more leaks from the customers incorrect size vacuum t’s. Everything on this car is hacked up by the customer, so don’t be mad when we say your car is not ready for a tune.
The original tune was lost due to Brian’s hard drive problems.
I was never rude with the customer; I just told him it was best to part ways.
We are very, very busy shop in fact we completed 63 cars this month alone. So if I don’t get back to you right away or bench talk for 3 hours on the counter with me, I am SORRY.
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The IS300 went to S&R for a blown head gasket. $10,000 later the car still doesn't run (this includes upgrades and repairs). The car came into Darkside not running. Upon further inspection it turns out that some pins are not in the right spot on the ECU. The car has an unversal AEM EMS with a custom harness. The pins that where mixed up included some injector and coil trigger wires. There is no way that the car could ever run correctly in that condtion.
Once that problem was corrected we got the car started. The car ran poorly and smoked a lot. We never took it out of the parking lot. We did a compression and leak-down to check for engine damage. It failed both test. Once the engine was apart we discovered crack ring lands on three different pistons.
I'm not sure if the damage was caused by S&R or not. But if it was not, they did a very poor job in diagnosis of the 'blown head gasket'. They could have done a simple test when they got the head off the car to determine if the bottom end was damaged. Instead they elected to put the car back together with a rebuilt head and still have low compression after the 'repair'.
You cannot correctly fix the problem if you do not know what the problem is. Diag is the most important part of the repair.
I like the guys at S&R, we have a good relationship; however, they dropped the ball on this one.
Once that problem was corrected we got the car started. The car ran poorly and smoked a lot. We never took it out of the parking lot. We did a compression and leak-down to check for engine damage. It failed both test. Once the engine was apart we discovered crack ring lands on three different pistons.
I'm not sure if the damage was caused by S&R or not. But if it was not, they did a very poor job in diagnosis of the 'blown head gasket'. They could have done a simple test when they got the head off the car to determine if the bottom end was damaged. Instead they elected to put the car back together with a rebuilt head and still have low compression after the 'repair'.
You cannot correctly fix the problem if you do not know what the problem is. Diag is the most important part of the repair.
I like the guys at S&R, we have a good relationship; however, they dropped the ball on this one.
$5400 in parts that the customer picked out himself
The labor was 2100
The customer brought me a car that was overheating. We did perform the all the tests that were required. Unfortunately the head was so badly warped that we could not get an accurate reading from compression or leak down. We did advise the customer the head had to go out for machine work.
Meanwhile, the customer had me order an SRT intake manifold that required a new intercooler setup and power steering reservoir modification. That took at least 20 hours to fabricate that I only charged him 5 hours for.
The ecu harness was made by Dezod and the AEM was also configured by Dezod. This was also something that the customer picked out and had to have because the SRT Intake required a stand alone ECU that they failed to mention on their website. IT wasn’t until we called them that they admitted what else was required to complete the job.
The AEM and intake manifold took forever to receive (months) and the customer was getting very upset (as he should be) at the manufactures. When the last part came in from Dezod on a Friday, by this time the customer had became very anxious to get his car back; like that day. I told him it will be a couple days to a week, before we could get his car back into rotation and the customer got very pissed off at me and demanded his car back. So before we could do real testing with car he picked it up.
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I know Bobby and Taylor well. Unfortunately there's always two sides to the story. I know Taylor to be a very honest guy. I would be willing togo out on a limb here and say the customer most likely became too impatient. Hopefully everything gets cleared up here 
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unfortunately in this business, 100% of customers will not be happy. i take great pride in my work and if i miss something, i assure you, i will make it right. i have been in this game long enough to not miss the stupid stuff, but every now and then, something might slip by. i would just wish that if something does go wrong, that the customer would give me the chance to correct it.
i also cannot control everything that happens in the shop. if someone feels that they were treated unfairly, i personally apologize even though i dont even run that portion of the company. 90% of the time, it all just boils down to miscommunication. not everyone understands my sense of humor and if someone feels that i personally treated them poorly, i'm sure my style of jokes just went misunderstood.
as far as actual mechanical errors, please PM me and let me know what it is that has happened. i build the motors at the shop, but do not install them. i do my best to QC the guys' work, but i cant check every single bolt that they turn. if i have an employee that is letting sub-par work leave this shop, i need to know ASAP so that i can assess the situation and react accordingly.
spreading stories and/or rumors do not go a long way to improving product, but letting me know exactly what has happened and who did it DOES help me.
i also cannot control everything that happens in the shop. if someone feels that they were treated unfairly, i personally apologize even though i dont even run that portion of the company. 90% of the time, it all just boils down to miscommunication. not everyone understands my sense of humor and if someone feels that i personally treated them poorly, i'm sure my style of jokes just went misunderstood.
as far as actual mechanical errors, please PM me and let me know what it is that has happened. i build the motors at the shop, but do not install them. i do my best to QC the guys' work, but i cant check every single bolt that they turn. if i have an employee that is letting sub-par work leave this shop, i need to know ASAP so that i can assess the situation and react accordingly.
spreading stories and/or rumors do not go a long way to improving product, but letting me know exactly what has happened and who did it DOES help me.
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RIP Tim. i miss you, buddy
RIP Tim. i miss you, buddy
Master of the cut-off T'S
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I say we settle this with some good old fashion customer appreciation. I say a pro-bono gst to gsx conversion on the house (House also providing parts, to show there dedication). To do my parts I will provide the donor car. Just my part.
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...Only god can judge me...
"If you don't set goals for yourself, you are
doomed to work to achieve the goals of
someone else."
Women might be able to fake orgasms but us men can fake a whole relationship.
V-TEC = Virtually-Torqueless Economic Cars
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i dont love my customers THAT much lol
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RIP Tim. i miss you, buddy
RIP Tim. i miss you, buddy
Master of the cut-off T'S
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^ 
__________________
...Only god can judge me...
"If you don't set goals for yourself, you are
doomed to work to achieve the goals of
someone else."
Women might be able to fake orgasms but us men can fake a whole relationship.
V-TEC = Virtually-Torqueless Economic Cars
(PROG) Crew member #5
{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-
O RLY?
...Only god can judge me...
"If you don't set goals for yourself, you are
doomed to work to achieve the goals of
someone else."
Women might be able to fake orgasms but us men can fake a whole relationship.
V-TEC = Virtually-Torqueless Economic Cars
(PROG) Crew member #5{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-
O RLY?
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- Induction Performance
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* RIP Kevin/Slo_Si RIP & Pablo/Fathead
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* IP Face Book
* IP Web-Site
* RIP Kevin/Slo_Si RIP & Pablo/Fathead
4G63 PWR
Joined: May 2001
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I have never been to or even had s&r work on my cars. But what I can say is they completely did one of my friends cars. Its a yellow dodge viper. fully built engine and a ton of custom parts. he was getting very anxious to start driving the car even though the turbos werent on it. and they set him up with a base tune and off he went. drove over here to my house and we went out. all i can say is for a car that was built for twin turbos with just a base tune it was a beast. and as far as i could tell he was very pleased with the work. especially since the car had been to numerous other shops that delt mainly with vipers and they all seemed to screw it up. a few times to miami and orlando .
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Honda/Acura certified Technician
Lexus/Toyota certified Technician
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1992 Eagle Talon TSi AWD sold
2003 Maxima SE
Honda/Acura certified Technician
Lexus/Toyota certified Technician
ASE certified
1992 Eagle Talon TSi AWD sold
2003 Maxima SE
